One of the many teachings held within the yoga conversation is not getting stuck in patterns that fail to serve our highest good. It is a real art to know when to stay and hold an asana and when to come out and move on in the practice. If we stay when we shouldn't we get injured, and if we come out too soon we miss the awakening. This visceral process on the mat teaches us to discern what thoughts, behaviors, and relationships serve our highest interest and what don’t. When I say “highest purpose” I mean experiencing that ananda -- that bliss that pulsates inside us with such magnetic luminosity that it shines outward through our unique artful act of living. Any experience, relationship, thought, and yes, substance can be used for this kind of spiritual awakening.
I don’t believe in the saying “All good things must come to an end”. In my opinion all good things must come to a beginning. In fact if something is truly auspicious, it leads us toward greater insight about ourselves, and the world we inhabit. It illuminates the divine presence within ourselves and leads us down paths of continued growth and opportunity.
Our job is to listen. We listen to discern if the next opening will come from staying where we are, with the partner we have, the job we hold, the foods we consume, or if the awakening will come from a change, a move, a new beginning. When we not only hear, but also truly listen, the answers we seek become amplified so that denying them is essentially rejecting the deepest essence of the spirit housed inside the heart.
Perhaps I am the eternal spiritual optimist exploiting her own soulful naiveté here. I fully recognize that life is rarely as simple as I just laid out. We all have “promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep”. Life circumstances make it hard to follow through on what we hear from spirit (hence we can’t readily listen). Sometimes in the effort to seek our own truth and soul connection, we take a wrong turn and hurt others by acting selfishly or exploiting their sensitivities.
This is why it is called practice. Just like you, I am practicing becoming a virtuoso at my Self instrument. I am learning to play as creatively and gracefully as possible. As we get more adept at playing our own Self instruments, the foibles become fewer and farther between and the noise less cacophonous. My dearest Kula, I have heard and listened….
In August me and this humble yoga endeavor of teaching, writing, playlisting, blogging, and hopefully soon podcasting, will move to Boulder Colorado to pursue graduate work in Somatic Psychology at Naropa University.
Sunday June 14th will be the last regularly scheduled class. That Sunday’s class will be an awesome “Expand Your Practice” int/adv inversions class. I will hold a very limited number of classes and workshops in July at 404 Marlow Rd. all by donation so please check back here for the schedule of those classes! Summer, when the weather is warm and energy high, is a great time to go deep into the body in a whole different way than at other times during the year. I invite you all to share your yoga practice not just with me but each other in the coming weeks!
Living and teaching here in Baltimore, my hometown (I did go to RPCS afterall!) has been very auspicious for me personally and professionally. It is with a heart overflowing in gratitude, love, and purnatva that I move forward to open the doors manifested by my auspicious time here and with this kula. For all of us, this is a beginning -- a new chapter --an exciting time that has within it infinite potential for the deepest awakenings of grace.
